Cost-efficiency and the Phillies' bullpen
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Cost-efficiency and the Phillies' bullpen
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
We've already spent plenty of time in this space outlining the Phillies' finances over the next few seasons, with particular attention paid toward 2011, when the team already has guaranteed $130.85 million to 15 players. To put that in perspective, the Phillies' total Opening Day payroll in 2008 was under $110 million. Thus far, the team's payroll has coincided with a dramatic increase in revenue sparked by a playoff appearance in 2007, a World Series title in 2008, and record regular season attendance marks in 2008 and 2009.
But at some point, their revenue will level off, and in the absence of any new major streams, the spending must level off as well. Attendance can only increase by so much, since there are only so many seats in the house. And in a sluggish economy, it is hard to imagine the team being able to dramatically increase the rates it charges its various sponsors. This is why the Phillies say they are not the Yankees, or, to a lesser extent, the Red Sox. They do not own their own cable network, as the Yankees do. And their market reach would seem to be far less than that of Boston, where the closest MLB city is more than 200 miles away (the Phillies, by comparison, have three MLB cities under 200 miles away).
So while we may never get to look at the Phillies' books and judge exactly how much cash flow they have, their contention that their resources are limited is a valid one.
What does all of this mean?
As revenue and payroll levels off, the importance of resource allocation increases. The Phillies were able to eat the contracts of Adam Eaton and Geoff Jenkins without much consequence, because the payroll was increasing and they were still able to add new salary. But with $130.85 million locked up for 15 players in 2011, and $59 million locked up for seven players in 2012 -- Cole Hamels is up for arbitration and Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are eligible for free agency -- the Phillies are at a point where the most important factor in their sustained success will be the decisions they make in slicing the pie.
Which brings us to the bullpen, which was the focus of our main story today in the Daily News. While the Yankees and the Red Sox both have bigger payrolls than the Phillies, they have also found a way to allocate more of their available dollars to the sport's high-dollar positions -- by developing dependable relievers in their minor league system.
Look at the bullpen the Phillies' faced in the World Series: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlin, Phil Coke and David Robertson combined for 10 relief appearances. All of them were drafted and developed by the Yankees. None of them made more than $500,000 that season.
Look at the bullpen the Red Sox fielded last season: Jonathon Papelbon, Daniel Bard, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima -- all drafted or signed as amateur free agents by Boston. Bard, Delcarmen and Okajima combined to make less than $5 million (Papelbon earned $9.35 million as an arb-eligible).
The Phillies, on the other hand, have relied almost exclusively on major league free agents in putting together their bullpens over the past four seasons. During that timespan, only three homegrown relievers have finished the regular season with at least 30 appearances -- Ryan Madson, Brett Myers and Geoff Geary. The Dodgers and Cardinals, by comparison, have produced six such players. The other NL team in the 2009 playoffs, the Rockies, has produced four.
The Phillies have been successful in signing or trading for veteran relievers -- Chan Ho Park, Chad Durbin, and Brad Lidge have all made big impacts -- and they rank fourth in the NL in bullpen ERA over the last four years.
But the Phillies are paying $25.625 million in guaranteed money to six relievers. The Yankees thus far have $24.59 million locked up to six relievers, more than half of which goes to Mariano Rivera. The Red Sox have $15.74 million locked up to seven players.
This is not a knock on the Phillies' strategy.
Back when the Red Sox and Yankees made their respective returns to greatness, both relied heavily on veteran relievers (Keith Foulke, Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, Scott Williamson and Curt Leskanic for the Red Sox in 2004; John Wetteland, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton and Graeme Lloyd for the Yankees in 1996-97)
And because the Phillies have been able to keep costs low by developing and controlling players like Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ, they have been able to spend on the bullpen.
But many of those players are now making salaries in line with the premium nature of their positions.
Because the success of relievers is so volatile, and because their skill set is less refined (a reliever might need command of only two pitches, while most starters need three or four), developing them from within one's own system makes sense.
This spring, the crop of homegrown relievers in spring training is, at the very least, as abundant as it has been over the past couple of years. Lefthander Antonio Bastardo was a starter still looking to develop his slider a year ago. Now, he is fresh off a couple of appearances in the playoffs, as well as a dynamite performance in the Dominican Winter League. He is also being viewed strictly as a reliever for the first time in his career.
Lefthander Sergio Escalona, who converted from starter in 2008, is also competing for a spot, along with Mike Zagurski and Scott Mathieson, both of whom are looking to put injury-plagued pasts behind them.
Righthander B.J. Rosenberg is a hard-throwing reliever out of the University of Louisville who had a good season in the minors last season. He isn't a strong candidate for the Opening Day roster, but could contribute at some point in the not-so-distant future.
And, of course, there is Phillippe Aumont, a big righthander who will start the year as a starter but who many project to someday fill a role in the bullpen.
Bastardo has perhaps the most upside of any of the relievers competing for a spot in spring training. He throws a low-to-mid-90's fastball with good deception, and he showed a ton of poise last year in five starts and three relief appearances (including a big strikeout of Jason Giambi in the playoffs). If he can turn his slider into a consistent second pitch, and if he can show enough command, he could prove to be a huge, cheap boost to the bullpen. Both now, and in the future.
Monohan your off on the Red Sox starters being FA's. Beckett was acquired from the Marlins for HanRam and other prospects, Lester is home grown, Wakefield has been there forever and was not a big ticket FA, in fact I think he was released by the Pirates at some point. Schilling was a trade, Lowe was home grown. The people replacing those guys other than Lackey who is the first big free agent sign as a pitcher in a long time, have been homegrown ie Buchholz or acquired for prospects from the rich Boston farm. The Red Sox have spent their FA $ on mid level position guys and in Asia. They traditionally develop from within or trade for with prospects. the Phils would be wise to model after the Sox that is how they compete with the free spending Yankees develop from within and fill holes with prospects and midlevel FA who don't cost you big draft picks.— rhcjr2- Nice piece as usual. Sad that David Murphy writes carefully crafted insightful postings and, if he is lucky, gets about 25 responses, while Stephen A. Smith writes rubbish, knows it is rubbish, but also knows it is controversial and always gets more than 100 responses.— chuckw
- looking for bastardo and mathieson to contribute— EndTheDrought
- "Phillies, by comparison, have three MLB cities under 200 miles away," What are you talking about there is only one MLB team (Yankees)within 200 miles, the other team is triple A (Mets)— ned folk
- I like how the Phillies are spending more time and effort with their minor league system. This is the first time since the early 70's that we as fans have been so tuned in with what is going on with future Phillies. Amaro is doing it right. We have enough stars to give us a chance to win it all.. The key is to keep things going for years to come.— bradco
- One revenue stream that has tons of upside for the Philles is their TV deal. they right now have a mediocre deal and a downright poor one if you consider the ratings they have gotten the past couple of years. i know this deal with comcast is up within the next couple of years and they should be able to increase that dramatically or create their own channel. this is what they need to do to be on par with the red sox. boston may not have a team within 200 miles of them, but the philly market is much bigger than the boston market.— brendan2006
- Brendan - the actual market might be bigger, but keep in mind the Red Sox own most of New England. And NESN is the top-rated regional sports network in the country.
- I don't want sound like a hater but this is simple as you develop a solid farm system that put out a solid core group of players and bring in FA that fill the need of the team. And it was coincidence that Yankee bullpen is a bunch of farm hand. Just look at their bullpen history before last year...As long as the Phillies developed good prospect, they'll save money.— SIxersfan
- Great article! I agree with most of these comments and wish more people could really understand the 1st 2 paragraphs. Personally, I blame fantasy sports. Ticket sales can only account for so much revenue stream down the road. I'm thankful for what this team has done, and what it is gearing to do down the road.
- Murph-Understood and I agree about the Sox controlling all of NE. However, the Phils market may not equal, but can rival the Sox in terms of people. What do you hear about the future of the Phils and their TV deal?? Is there not much upside there? This is where the Yanks and Red Sox make a large percentage of their revenues and the Phils deal right now is subpar compared to these franchises, correct?— brendan2006
- Re: Aumonte.. too many people will judge him on what he does this year, which is a developmental year by all accounts in the f.o. With Lidge's contract up after next year unless I'm mistaken, the thinking behind Aumonte seems to be to have him develop a couple of secondary pitches, and in a few years be ready for a backend bullpen role. Keeping in line with the logic of David's logic, a future 8th/9th inning guy is a helluva lot cheaper than flipping a coin at these high-priced FA relievers who always command top dollar
Fonz I'm not sure I buy into the Boston is a bigger market than Philly. Bucks County has more people than the entire state of Vermont.Philadelphia+Montgomery County have more combined people than Rhode Island + New Hampshire. There are moose living in Maine than people.According to Nielsen Philaldephia is the 4th largest TV market in the usa with 2,955,000 households. Boston is 7th with 2,410,000 . The Phils owners dont take full advantage of just how big this market is, it stretches from Southern tip DE/Jersey, out to Lancaster, up to the Poconos, and back to Central Jersey/ AC. There is no reason that the Phillies can not operate like the Red Sox. You would have never seen Boston trade away Cliff Lee while bringing a pitcher the ilk of Halladay.— argonne- David, what you neglect to mention in your comments re in-house Yankees relievers is that two of them - Hughes and Chamberlain, were supposed to be starters. This wasn't a strategy by the Yankees but very much a Plan B.— Aloofbob
- Until Uncle Dave and Cuz Ruben open the books... this is pointless. Where do they find these writers ?— Dickie Thon
- I agree the article was good but don't necessarily bite on the main point. Top franchises -- and thanks to Pat Gillick, we now are one of them -- go through phases. What the Daily News wrote about the Yankees is true. On the other hand, they face major problems, with the aging status of Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Pettite and the likely premature aging of an overweight Sabathia. So, while their bullpen is cheap (now), they face other woes -- and quite soon. We have a great nucleus in Utley, Howard, Rollins, Hamels and Victorino. I mean, how good is that? So, we have to import middle relievers. That's true, but just last year the Yankees bought the best free agent on the market, Texeira, to buttress their sagging lineup. Before that, it was A-Rod. So while they're saving money in the 'pen, we benefit from a to-die-for every day lineup. You can't have it all.— eman
